Grader



Nov.- 3, 1925. Re, 16,209

J. D. ADAMS ET AL DITCH FORMING GEADER Original Filed Aug. 23 1920 2Sheets-Sheet l ATRNEY.

Jura' ranas affmv lai/r.; 01.411.510. l

Reissued Nov. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH D. ADAMS, DECEASED, LATE OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, BY ROY E.ADAMS AND WILLIAM RAY ADAMS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ADMINISTRATORS,AND ROY E. ADAMS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNORS TO J. D. ADAMS &GOM- PANY, A PARTNERSHIP COMPOSED OF ROY E.' ADAMS, WILLIAM RAY ADAMS,LEONA H. ADAMS, AND HELEN J. ADAMS AS INDIVIDUALS, AND ROY E. ADAMS,WILLIAM RAY ADAMS, AND S. E. HENRY AS TRUSTEES.

DITCH-FORMING GRADER.

Original No. 1,507,552, dated September 2, 1924, Serial No. 405,318,filed August 23, 1920. Application for reissue filed June 6, 1925.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that JosErH D. ADAMS, de-

ceased, formerly a citizen of the United States, and a resident atIndianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, and Roi' E.ADAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in thecounty of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new and usefulDitch-Forming Grader, of which the following is a specificat1on.

It is the object of this invention to provide a road grader with a banksloper attachment, which is preferably removable whereby with a singleoperation the bottom and outside slope of a ditch at the side of theroad may be worked at the same time that the inside slope of the ditchis worked, and the entire quantity of dirt from both slopes of the ditchmay be carried out to and placed on the road to build it up and give itits proper crowning.

In carrying out the invention, there is attached to the outer end of themold board or blade a supplemental blade, preferably by a pivotalattachment whereby the vertical angle between the two may be adjusted tovary the angle between the outer and inner slopes of the ditch. Thissupplemental blade is attached to the forward end of the oblique mainblade, and is preferably in substantially the same vertical plane as themain blade; so that in operation the outer end of the supplemental bladeis the lfarthest advanced, and the dirt is fed from the outside slo e ofthe ditch down into and up the insi e slope of the ditch onto the roadby reason of the obliqueness of the entire blade combination, formed ofthe main blade and the supplemental blade, with respect to the directionof trave-l. In order to et the full advanta e of this supplementalnlade,it is preferred to use it on raders in which the wheels are tiltable toeaning positions, and in which the back wheels are laterally shiftableto make them travel in any desired path; so that the front and rearwheels on that side of the grader which is toward the ditch may travelin the ditch and all the Wheels. may be made to lean to serian No.35,503.

resist the tendency of the reaction of the dirt on the blades,particularly on the supplemental blade, to draw the entire grader intothe bank, thus holding the machine properly in the desired line oftravel.

The accompanying -drawings illustrate the invention: Fig. 1 is afragmentary perspective View of the front part of a leaningwheel roadgrader equipped with a backsloper blade in accordance with theinvention, the main blade and the frame of the machine being shown onlyin part; Fig. 2 is a plan of the complete machine, but with thecontrolline' mechanism in the main omitted; and Fig. 3 is a diagrammaticcross section through a road and ditch, showing the action of the mainand supplemental blades thereon.

The grader comprises a main frame connecting a front axle 11 and a. rearaxle 12, the front axle being mounted to turn on a suitable king boltfor guiding purposes, and the rear axle being slidable transverselyT ofthe frame by suitable operating mechanism 13. The frnt and the rearaxles are provided-with Suitable carrying wheels 15 and 16 respectively,each of which is pivotally connected to its axle on a horizontal axis 17which permits it to be tilted to any desired. leaning position in eitherdirection from the ver-tical. The tilting of the front wheels iscontrolled in common by suitable operating mechanism 19, and that of therear wheels by suitable operating mechanism 20. The operating mechanisms13, 19, and 20 are shown only suicently to indicate their character. Theforward end of a sub-frame 21 is loosely pivoted on a pivot pin 22 nearthe front end of the main frame 10, and the rear end of such sub-frame21 is siidable tra-nsversely of the main frame 10 by suitable operatingmechanism 23. The two ends of a cross bar 24 on the sub-frame 10 aresupported by two rigid liiks 25 from two adjustable lifting devices 25',separately operable by suitable mechanism 26 whereby the two sides ofthe sub-frame may be raised or lowered relatively to each other, thepivotino of the sub-frame on the pin 22 beine' suciently loose to permitthis. A mold-board frame 2T is carried by the sub-frame 21, and iscircumferentially adjustable about a pivotal center 28 by suitableoperating mechanism 29, to vary the angle ot' the mold board or blade30, carried by such mold-board frame- 2T, with respect to the directionof travel of the grader. All of these operating mechanisms referred toare shown only generally because they are now well known.

On the rear side olf the mold board or main blade 30 near the bottomthereof at the right hand end (with reference to the direction oftravel) is bolted a hinge member 31, which is connected by a hinge pin32 to a similar hinge member 33 bolted to the back of a supplementalblade 34. This supplemental blade is the one. which forms the bottom andoutside slope of the ditch, and for that purpose its lower or cuttingedge is preferably made of two parts 35 and 36 at an angle to each otherto form the desired vertical angle between the bottom and outside slopeof the ditch. The hinge pin 32 is transverse to the two blades. to allowthe vertical angle between the main and supplemental blades to be variedas desired; and to vary this angle the outer end of the supplementalblade 34 is connected to the sub-frame 21 by an adjustable bar 37 whichis made adjustable in length by being formed of two telescoping members38 and 39 which may be locked in any desired relative position by across pin 40 co-operating with suitable holes 41 in such members, aseries of such holes 41 being provided in one of the members. By varyingthe length of the adjustable bar 37, the vertical angle between the mainand supplemental blades is varied. By swinging the supplemental bladesufficiently hi h it becomes possible to use the main blade 30 inregular road `:trader operation without interference from thesupplementahblade, and yet with the supplemental blade well out of theway. Though it is thus not necessary to remove the supplemental bladewhen working the grader without it, it can be removed when desired bydisconnecting it at the pivo-t pin 32.

In order to pull the supplemental blade forward, it is provided with itsown draft frame 42, in the form of two diverging arms connected at theirrear ends to separated points on the --supplemental blade,v one of thempreferably extendingr down around the back of such supplemental blade tothe hinge member 33. The two arms lof this frame are joined at theirforward ends, and are connected to a suitable pin 43 carried by alateral arm 44 fixed to the forward end of the sub-frame 21. Theconnection of the draft frame 42 to the pin 43 isA sutliciently loose sothat it does not interfere with the raising and lowering ofthesupplemental blade to obtain the desired adjustment of the latter. '1 hedraft frame 42 is ordinarily not adjustable in length (though this isnot necessarily the case), so that when the supplemental blade is in usethe main blade 3U must be at substantially a predetermined horizontalangle with respect to the sub-frame 21, and that end of the main bladeto which the supplemental blade is attached must be the advanced end. Ineffect, the supplemental blade then becomes a vertically adjustablecontinuation of the main blade, with the outer end of the supplementalblade the farthest advanced of the entire blade coinbination.

In operation. the grader is drawn forward by any suitable draft device,and usually has its right hand wheels in line with each other, as shown,and trai-cling in the ditch at the right hand side of the road. The rearaxle 12 of the grader is adjusted to get this alinement of such righthand wheels. As the gratter is drawn forward, the outer end of thesupplemental blade digs into the outer bank of the ditch, and cuts thedirt therefrom and moves it down into the ditch by the action of theedge 3G and by the angle of the blade with respect to the direction oftravel. rThe edge 35 of the supplemental blade forms the bottom of theditch, and the dirt which is fed down into the ditch from the outerslope and that which is out from the bottom of the ditch are fedtogether to the inside slop of the road and in front of the advanced endof the main mold board 30. This mold board or main blade 30 forms theinside slope of the ditch, or the outer edge. of the main road, andcarries toward the crown of the road not only the dirt which it itselfcuts away but also the dirt which is fed to it from the outside slope oftheditch and the bottom of the ditch by the supplemental blade 34:, thusbuilding up the road.

When the grader is traversing uneven ground, the hand wheels 26 may beoperated to elevate. lower, or tilt the ground-cutting element includingthe main and supplemental blades in order to cut a smooth ditch at thedesired grade. The rigid, thrusttransmitting links 25. insure that thegroundcutting element will be definitely held in the desired positionrelative to the frame of the grader, and make it possible to throwsubstantially the entire weight of the grader onto the ground-cuttingelement to force the cutting element into the ground when deep cuts areto be taken.

Because of the obliqueness of the blade combination with respect to thedirection of travel, with the-part which co-operates with the outerslope of the ,ditch farthest advanced. the reaction of the dirt on theblades tends to draw the whole grader into the bank; and this iseffectively resisted by tilting the leaning wheels 15 and 16 toward thecrown of the road so that they resist such tendency to draw into thebank. lf the draft device, such as a tractor, is traveling well upon theroad, the draft connection may also tend to counteract the tendency todig into the bank, and then the front wheels need not lean so far towardthe road, if at all, or may in some cases even lean in the otherdirection. It is possible with this grader to forni the entire ditch andboth its inner and outer slopes without requiring the gradeiI proper totravel on the outer slope.

The invention claimed is:

l. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of awheel-supported frame and a ground-cutting element, two adjustablelifting devices mounted on said frame and operable independently of eachother, and thrust-transmitting members connecting said lifting deviceswith transversely spaced points on said cutting element, said cuttingelement including two blade members vertically angularly adjustablerelative to each other.

2. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of awheel-supported frame, a ground-cutting element, and control meansmounted on said frame and connected to said ground-cutting element foradjusting it angularly in a vertical plane, said ground-cutting elementincluding two blade members vertically angularly adjustable relative toeach other, said blade members being obli ue to the direction of travelof the road gra er.

3. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the'combination of awheel-supported frame and a ground-cutting element, said rround-cuttingelement being angularly adjustable in a vertical plane and including amain blade and a supplemental blade vertically angularly adjustablerelative to each other, said blades being oblique to the direction oftravel of the road grader and the outer end of said supplemental platebeing in advance of the inner end thereof.

4. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of awheel-supported frame and a ground-cutting element, two adjustablelifting devices mounted on said frame and operable independently of eachother, and thrust-transmitting members connecting said lifting deviceswith transversely spaced points on said cutting element, said cuttingelement including a main blade and a supplemental blade verticallyangularly adjustable relative to each other, said supplemental bladerejecting laterally beyond the supporting W eels.

5. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of awheel-supported frame and a ground-cutting element, two adjustablelifting devices mounted on said frame and operable independently of eachother, and thrust-transmitting members connecting said lifting deviceswith transversely plemental blade having a cutting edge formed of twoparts atan angle to each other for forming the bottom and outer slope ofa ditch.

6. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of a mainframe. wheels 'i for supportingl said main frame. and a ground-cuttingelement. said ground-cutting element being angularly adjustable in avertical plane and includingr a supplemental blade adapted to form theouter slope of a ditch. said Wheels being tiltable to counteract thetendency of said supplemental blade tocut into such outer ditch slope.

7. A ditch-forming road grader, compris ing the combination of a mainframe, wheels for supporting said main frame, and a ground-cuttingelement, said ground-cutting element being angularly adjustable in avertical plane and including u supplemental blade adapted to form theouter slope of a ditch, said wheels being adjustable so that theirplanes of rotation may be changed relative to said frame to counteractthe tendency of said supplemental blade to cut into such outer ditchslope. I

8. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising the combination of a mainframe, wheels for supporting said main frame, and a ground-cuttingelement, said ground cutting element being angularly adjustable in avertical plane and including a supplemental blade adapted to form theouter slope of a ditch, at least one of said supporting wheels beingadjustable so that its plane of rotation may be changed relative to saidframe to counteract the tendency of said supplemental blade to cut intothe outer ditch slopei 9. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising thecombination of a Wheel-supported frame and a ground-cutting element, andcontrol means mounted on said frame for angularly adjusting said cuttingelement as a unit in a vertical plane and for forcing said cuttingelement downward, said cutti element including two blade membersvertically angularly adjustable relative to each other.

10. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising front and rear axles, wheelsfor supporting said axles, a rigid main frame connecting said axles, aground-cutting element, adjustable lifting" means mounted on said frame,and thrust-transmitting means connecting said lifting means with saidcutting element, said cutting element being laterally adjustablerelative to said main frame and including two blade members verticallyangularly adjustable relative to each other.

11. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising front and rear axles, wheelsfor supporting said axles, a rigid main frame connecting said axles, aground-cutting element, two adjustable lifting devices mounted on saidframe and operable independently of each other, and thrust-transrnittingmembers tonneeting said lifting devices with transversely spaced pointson said cutting element, said cutting element including two blademembers vertically angular-ly` adjustable relative to each other.

12. A ditch-forming road grader as set forth in claim ll with theaddition that said main frame is laterally adjustable on said rear axle.

13. A ditch-forming road grader,` comprising a combination of awheel-supported frame, a ground-cutting element, and control meansmounted on said frame and connected to said ground-cutting element forbodily adjusting it in height relative to said frame and also forangularly adjusting it in a vertical plane, said ground cutting elementincluding two blade members vertically angularly adjustable relative toeach other, the cutting edges of said two blade members lying wholly ina single plane oblique to the direction of travel of the road grader.

14. A ditch-forming road grader, comprising front and rear axles, wheelsfor supporting said axles, a rigid main frame connecting said axles,said main frame being adjustable on said rear axles transversely ofthegrader, a ground-cutting element including two blade members verticallyangularly adjustable relative to each other, and control means mountedon said main frame and conueeted to said ground-Hitting element i'orangular-ly adjusting it in a vertical plane.

l5. ditch-forming road grader, comprising trout and rear axles, WheelsVfor sup porting said axles, a rigid main frame ronueetin; T said axles,a sub-frame, the front end ot' said sub-trame being supported near thet'rontI ot' thev road grader, two independently operable lifting deviceskmounted on said main frame. thrust-transmitting members Connecting saidlifting devices with transversely spaced points on said sub-frame, ainan blade carried by said sub-frame, and a supplemental bladevertically angularly ad justable relative to said main blade, saidsub-frame and said two blades being adjustable as a unit by said twolifting devices.

i6. A ditch-forming road grader as set forth in claim 9, with theaddition of means for adjusting the rear end of said sub-frametransversely of said main frame.

.In witness whereof we have hereunto affixed our signatures.

ROY E. ADAMS. WM. RAY ADAMS.

Efecutors of #ze Estate of J. D. Adams.

Deceased.

ROY E. ADAMS.

